HUMBOLDT COUNTY, CALIF. • FREE Thursday Jan. 24, 2019 Vol XXX Issue 4 northcoastjournal.com

‘We’re Coming Home’ The unprecedented return of Indian Island to the Wiyot Tribe By Thadeus Greenson On the Cover

‘We’re Coming Home’ The unprecedented return of Indian Island to the Wiyot Tribe By Thadeus Greenson [email protected]

Tribal members in dugout canoes make their way from Indian Island to the Adorni Center for a ceremony marking the return of part of the island to the Wiyots in 2004. Photo by Ryan Palmer

t was an unusual request for the drab, to the Wiyot Tribe, for whom the island currently working to finish the paperwork around Humboldt Bay. staid confines of Eureka City Council was home for at least 1,000 years, according needed to officially transfer ownership A shell mound on the north-east end Chambers. to an archeologist, and since time imme- of the land back to the tribe. It’s a move of the island was carbon dated back to the “Do I have time to sing you a song?” morial, according to the tribe. But in Wiyot without precedent across the nation, year 900 A.D. by a University of California she asked from the podium. culture the island represents more than an according to numerous experts consulted Berkeley professor in 1918, indicating Wiyot I“Sure,” then Mayor Frank Jager replied. ancient village site or a historical home- for this story, all of whom said that while inhabitance of the island went back at least With that, Cheryl Seidner, a Wiyot tribal land — it’s the physical and cultural center there have been instances of the federal a millennium. elder, clad in a traditional knit cap, tilted of the universe, a place with the spiritual government, nonprofits and private entities But when whites were drawn to her head back, eyes closed, and began power to bring balance to all else. returning land to tribes, Eureka appears to Humboldt County in the mid-1800s, they to sing. As the words of “We’re Coming Tribal Chair Ted Hernandez underscored be the first local municipality to have ever brought disease and violence that dev- Home” sung in Wiyot began to fill the this when he addressed the council that taken such a step. astated the Wiyot people. By 1852, only room, slowly, one by one, the crowd rose evening, saying he refused to call the island about 800 Wiyot people remained in their to its feet. City staff followed suit, then — named Duluwat in the Wiyot language traditional homeland, according to a 1993 members of the city council, until the and encompassing the villages of Tuluwat The largest of three islands in article by Debra Webster for the Humboldt entire room stood in rapt attention. When and Etpidohl — “surplus property” as it was Humboldt Bay, Indian Island, comprised County Historical Society. the song came to a close, Councilmember bureaucratically being dubbed. mainly of tidelands, is about 280 acres in Like other tribes, the Wiyot Tribe was Kim Bergel turned away, dabbing tears from “It’s sacred land,” he said. “This is our size, stretching nearly a mile long and a decimated by institutionalized violence, her eyes. sacred property. It’s where our ancestors half-mile wide. Up until the mid-1800s, the human trafficking and systemic genocide The moment underscored the gravity of are. That’s where our ancestors are buried, island was home to two Wiyot villages with at the hands of their new white neighbors. the action the council took a few minutes and that’s what we recognize it as. It’s the Tuluwat serving as the site of the tribe’s The most famous of these atrocities oc- later, when it voted unanimously to declare center of our world.” annual World Renewal Ceremony, which curred on Indian Island 159 years ago next more than 200 acres of city-owned land on Following the council’s direction given drew members from throughout the re- month. Indian Island “surplus property” and direct- at that Dec. 4, 2018, meeting, City Manager gion, where as many as 3,000 Wiyots lived The Wiyot Tribe was in the midst of its ed the city manager to negotiate its return Greg Sparks and the Wiyot Tribe are in approximately 20 village sites scattered World Renewal Ceremony in late February

10 NORTH COAST JOURNAL • Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 • northcoastjournal.com of 1860 when groups of white militiamen more than a century of abuse. It was diked conducted three simultaneous raids on to drain the saltmarshes to create land for sleeping Wiyot villages on the south cattle grazing. A series of lumber mills left jetty, at the mouth of the Eel River and a toxic legacy, as did a dry dock boat-re- at Tuluwat, combining to kill as many 300 pair shop that operated on the island for Wiyots before the sun rose. 120 years. In the early 1900s, the island Nowhere was the carnage fiercer than was home to the Sequoia Yachting and Tuluwat. The Wiyot men were away from Boating Club, where Eureka’s wealthy and the village gathering supplies for the elite would boat across the bay for days renewal ceremony as the village’s wom- of swimming and picnicking and rollicking en, children and elders slept, when a still evening balls. unidentified group of white men massacred A fire destroyed the club in 1913, and them. Journalist Bret Harte documented another gutted Gunther’s historic Victorian the aftermath in grim, graphic detail for the home on the island some decades later. Northern Californian newspaper: The city of Eureka purchased ownership of “When the facts were generally known, about 250 acres of the island in the 1950s it appeared that of the some 60 or 70 killed from Ida Bohn Gates, who’d sued Gunther’s on the island, at least 50 or 60 were women estate for the island in 1909. For decades, and children,” he wrote. “Neither age nor the island lay largely fallow, save for four sex had been spared. Little children and old private residences on its Eureka-facing side women were mercilessly stabbed and their and an egret rookery on the opposite side. skulls crushed with axes. When the bodies Over time, the egrets took on a mythic were landed at Union, a more shocking and quality, becoming a symbol of the island’s revolting spectacle never was exhibited to brutal legacy. the eyes of a Christian and civilized people. “The egrets, in graceful flight are the Old women, wrinkled and decrepit, lay wel- spirits of those who were massacred so tering in blood, their brains dashed out and long ago,” reads an unattributed quote in a dabbled with their long gray hair. Infants 1988 Humboldt Historian article by Virginia scarce a span long, with their faces cloven Sparks. “Loathe to give up their island, they with hatchets and their bodies ghastly with hover near, keeping vigil while the island wounds. We gathered from the survivors fulfills its time of mourning.” that four or five white men attacked the ranches at about 4 o’clock in the morning. No resistance was made, it is said, to the In the first months of 2014, running butchers who did the work, but as they unopposed for his second term as Eureka’s ran or huddled together for protection mayor, Jager found himself doing a lot like sheep, they were struck down with of reading. He was researching his grand- hatchets.” father, a member of the Pottawatomi, a In the aftermath of the massacre, the Great Plains tribe that fought alongside Humboldt Times opined that it should be the French in the French and Indian War blamed “on the troops of Fort Humboldt in the 1700s. In the aftermath of the war, because they had not given complete the tribe was removed from its historic protection to the settlers and the settlers homelands and relocated to Oklahoma were left no course except to take matters and Kansas. in their own hands.” (Read more about the That got Jager thinking about the massacre in the Journal’s Feb. 25, 2010, story removal of the Wiyot from Tuluwat, and “Genocide and Extortion.”) Humboldt County’s own legacy of geno- Survivors of the massacre sought cide and theft. As mayor of Eureka and the “immediate asylum” at Fort Humboldt, ac- grandfather of two Wiyot girls, he thought cording to Webster’s article, but were soon he could offer a simple gesture to heal old relocated to Fort Terwer on the Klamath wounds, so he spent a weekend in mid- Reservation and then dispersed throughout March drafting a letter to the tribe. the region. “In February 1860, 154 years ago, citizens By the time of the massacre, work was from Eureka participated in what has been already underway to seize ownership of described as a massacre of unfathomable the island from the Wiyot people. In 1858, proportions,” the letter began, going on to John T. Moore submitted a claim with describe the attack on “that winter night the Federal Land Claims Office under the long ago” when women and children were Swamp and Overflow Lands Act to take slaughtered. “As Mayor of Eureka, and on ownership of the island and received a behalf of the city council and the people “certificate of purchase” for the property of Eureka, we would like to offer a formal in January of 1860, which he sold to Robert apology to the Wiyot people for the Gunther the following month, according to actions of our people in 1860. Nothing we Webster’s article. say or do can make up for what occurred With the Wiyot people killed or removed, the island would then endure Continued on next page »

northcoastjournal.com • Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 • NORTH COAST JOURNAL 11 On the Cover Continued from previous page on that night of infamy. It will forever be 2004 and urged the few hundred people in at- STATE ROUTE 255 a scar on our history. We can, however, 40 acres tendance to match. Seidner says she raised with our present and future actions of almost $40,000 that day. support for the Wiyot work to remove the The tribe went on to hold auctions prejudice and bigotry that still exist in our and events, and sold T-shirts, baked goods society today.” and Indian tacos. After missing a purchase The letter was released to the public 2019 deadline by a couple of days, it sold more before it underwent legal review by then 202 acres 2000 until it reached the now $106,000 need- City Attorney Cyndy Day-Wilson, which 1.5 acres ed to purchase the 1.5 acres, signing the posed a problem. While many in the public Private transfer deed in 2000. A handful of years found the letter a heartfelt and long-over- Land later, the city donated an additional 40 due apology to take responsibility and acres to the tribe, which secured a variety make amends for a more than century- of grants to clean up toxic contamination and-a-half-old massacre, Day-Wilson saw a The Wiyot Tribe’s from lumber mills and a shipyard. In 2014, financial liability. While legal experts widely tribal members gathered on Tuluwat to agreed that was nonsense — that apolo- acquisition of finish the World Renewal Ceremony that gizing for a crime carried out by unknown Indian Island had been interrupted by the massacre, the people 14 years before Eureka was officially Private Land first step toward bringing balance back to incorporated would in no way expose the the universe. city to liability — the council followed “My great uncle Irving James used to be Day-Wilson’s advice and edited the letter, a lightweight boxer,” Seidner says. “He used removing mention of who attacked the jurisdiction, much less under the city’s city put 1.5 acres of the island, a parcel that to say, ‘Every time I got knocked down, I Wiyot that day or anyone being sorry for it. ownership. included Tuluwat, up for sale for $100,000 got back up.’ I look at the tribe and we’re Jager’s letter had been gutted. Seidner, meanwhile, had already been in in the 1990s, Seidner pushed to make the the same way. We’ve been knocked down “Of all the things that happened when I Bergel’s ear on the subject. Unbeknownst purchase a priority. a lot of times in our history but we always was the mayor, that was probably the most to anyone, the return of Indian Island was She recalls one day in 1998 when she get up.” disappointing,” he said, adding that some quickly becoming a reality. was on the Humboldt State University weeks later he traveled south to the Wiyot campus selling fundraising posters for $10 Tribe’s Table Bluff Reservation to address apiece and asked a professor to buy one. In the weeks since that December the tribal council and apologize to them as Sitting in the cultural office of the The next day, he returned in a suit and tie meeting when the Eureka City Council for- a private citizen. Wiyot Tribe’s headquarters on Table Bluff, and asked Seidner to sit down. He’d talked malized its intent to return the island and Recollections of that meeting dif- Seidner says she’s been working to see to his wife, he said, and they agreed to directed the city manager to get it done, fer. Jager says he recalls apologizing and Indian Island returned to the Wiyots her match any donations up to $40,000 toward Hernandez says he’s gotten a steady stream telling the council about how he hoped entire life. She knew it would happen, she the purchase of the sacred village site. of phone calls and emails from other to see the city erect a monument on the says, but didn’t think she’d live to see it. A handful of months later, Seidner says tribes or tribal organizations with a single island commemorating the massacre. But Growing up, Seidner says she first she was speaking about the efforts to question: “How’d you guys do it?” Arroyo Hernandez, the Wiyot Tribal chair, says he learned of the island and the massacre purchase Tuluwat during a conference of says she’s received similar inquiries from recalls it differently. from her mother — “her people were from the National Congress of American Indians. the National League of Cities and other “He apologized and said, ‘What else can the bay,” she says — when she was about When she finished addressing the crowd, municipalities. we do?’” Hernandez says. “We said, ‘Return 5. Immediately, Seidner says, she started a man stood up with a $100 bill in his hand It’s clear Eureka and the Wiyot Tribe are the island.’” picturing the island’s return. What’s clear is that Jager’s gesture with “When I was 10 years old in fourth the letter opened the door for something grade, Mrs. Greg asked who discovered Indian Island, looking toward the Tuluwat village site in 2004. File. more, pushing both the tribe and the city America,” she recalls. “Some little boy said, to rethink what was possible. ‘Christopher Columbus.’ I stuck my arm “For him to come to the tribe and to up and said, ‘No. The Wiyot people were apologize, I thought that was courageous,” already here.’” Seidner says. “I was happy that evening.” Seidner tells the story, in part, to A few months later, Natalie Arroyo and emphasize the fact that the Wiyot people Kim Bergel won seats on the Eureka City have never left. “We’re here,” she says. “We Council. One of the first things Arroyo aren’t shadows today. We are not forgot- did after being sworn in later that year ten.” was to travel to Table Bluff to address the Nor have they forgotten the island, or Wiyot Tribe. Arroyo says she’d worked its importance as the physical and cultural closely with the tribe in her capacity at center of their universe. The fact is, Seidner the Redwood Community Action Agency says, the Wiyot have been working toward on some grant funding efforts to build a this day for a very long time. She talks smokehouse on tribal land. Once elected, about her uncle Albert James suggesting she wanted to see if was anything the in 1970 that the tribe push for the return city could do to build a better govern- of the island, of the tribe’s lawsuit against ment-to-government relationship with the the federal government in the 1980s that tribe. resulted in it gaining its tribal status. “They said, ‘Well, please give us back In 1996, after she was elected to the Indian Island,’” Arroyo recalls with a tribal council and became chair, Seidner chuckle, adding that at the time she didn’t herself put getting the island back at the even realize the island was within the city’s forefront of the tribe’s agenda. When the

12 NORTH COAST JOURNAL • Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 • northcoastjournal.com COME IN FOR Gift FOOTBALL PLAYOFF certificates SPECIALS & now available on the cusp of something special. island in 2020. Tim Nelson, the tribe’s natu- 50 WINGS Bob Anderson, the director of the ral resources director, is already working on DURING GAMES Native American Law center at the plans to rid the island of invasive Spartina lunch special 12pm-2pm and Happy hour 4pm-6pm University of Washington School of Law grass. Jager’s successor Susan Seaman Come in for draft specials along with an $8 Cheese or $10 single topping pizza who for six years served under Interior says she’s bringing a proposal forward at Secretary Bruce Babbitt, providing legal ad- the city’s next council meeting aimed at Wed 1/30 6-8pm FRI 2/1 7-9pm Sat 2/2 7-9pm vice on issues of Indian law and sovereign- formalizing a “more collaborative” relation- Trivia Night michael dayvid arts alive w/Lyndsey ty, says what’s being done is simply without ship with the Wiyot Tribe that will give it “a beer-themed Battle & Corey Goldman precedent. While there are many examples stronger voice at the table” in the city. of the federal government returning stolen Careful to note that the return of the 421 3rd st Eureka Open Mon 4pm-9pm T-Th 11AM-9pm Fri 11AM-11Pm Sat 12-11pm Sun 10-8pm lands — like giving 48,000 acres back to the island is the fruit of generations of Wiyot Taos Pueblo Indians — or of a private en- work, Hernandez says the tribe is just fo- tity, nonprofit or land trust acting similarly, cused on taking care of the island, “bringing he’s not aware of a single instance of a local it back to health.” Asked if the tribe is municipality returning land to a local tribe entertaining the idea of trying to get back absent a lawsuit. the private property on the island, too, to “I think it’s a big deal,” he says. “It sets own it in its entirety, Hernandez chuckles an important precedent for other commu- and shakes his head. nities that might be thinking about doing “That’s individuals’ homes,” he says. “We this. They can say, ‘Yes, it’s been done know what it’s like to be taken off our land. before in California.’ It really sets a positive Why would we do that to someone else?” tone for relations between tribes and local Asked what it will feel like to set foot on governments, which have very often been the island once it is returned to the tribe, very strained. Hernandez takes a deep breath. “This is a significant example of sort “I imagine what it will be like and I of forward-looking, modern good re- just get this sensational feeling,” he says. lationships between tribal government “Ancestors — you can feel their presence and non-tribal governments,” Anderson there. It’s an amazing feeling. You don’t continues. “It seems to me this could be a want to leave. You’re just absorbing it and shining example of what’s possible. It’s very feeling the power it has.” important to Indian Country.” In the words of that unattributed myth While everyone involved in the transfer in the Humboldt Historian, the island’s pe- seems wary of celebrating too early — riod of mourning is almost over. The Wiyot Seidner says she “won’t be ecstatic until are returning home. l people’s names are written on the docu- ments” — it’s also clear they view this as the beginning rather than the culmination. Thadeus Greenson is the Journal’s news Hernandez and Seidner say the tribe is editor. Reach him at 442-1400, extension already fundraising, looking to raise $15,000 321, or [email protected]. to hold a World Renewal Ceremony on the Follow him on Twitter @thadeusgreenson.

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